myo, the Vietnamese social commerce platform, raised $8 million from Series A less than a year after announcing its seed round. Funding was led by Jungle Ventures, Patamar Capital and Oliver Jung, with participation from return investors GGV, Venturra, Hustle Fund, iSEED SEA and Gokul Rajaram.
Ploonge first covered Mio at the time of its $1 million seed funding in May 2021. Founded in 2020, Mio is a group buying platform that focuses on selling fresh produce and groceries in the cities of Level 2 and 3 in Vietnam. The company is able to offer next-day delivery because it has built a logistics infrastructure that allows it to ship products directly from farms to customers.
Series A brings Mio’s total to $9.1 million and will be used to expand its logistics and fulfillment system, enter new areas in Vietnam, and add new product categories such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and home appliances. .
Mio co-founder and CEO Trung Huynh said that since Ploonge first covered Mio seven months ago, it has achieved 10-fold growth in gross merchandise value, a 10-fold increase in agents or dealers, and increased its staff of 60 people to 240. now serves over 10,000 pieces of fresh produce a day, operating in Ho Chi Minh, Thu Duc, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An, with plans to expand into northern Vietnam.
The numbers “strengthened our conviction in this model and its potential,” he said. “We need fresh capital to accelerate sourcing, product development and the supply chain to keep pace with growth as we deepen our presence in existing geographies and expand into new provinces.”
Mio can offer next-day deliveries because its key vertically integrated layers of the value chain, including purchasing, warehousing, order sorting, and bulk delivery. The startup owns most of its logistics infrastructure and uses its own fleet of couriers. Its ability to deliver fresh produce directly from farms to customers in less than 16 hours has contributed to greater customer retention and growth, Huynh said, and will continue to shorten lead times. .
Mio resellers are called Mio Partners. Huynh said that one of the driving factors behind Mio is targeting the right people for the program, or “housewives and housewives in low-income regions who love to share products in a good relationship.” cost-effective to your social circle of friends.”
They aggregate orders, usually from friends and family, and the orders are delivered to them in batches for distribution. The startup claims that Mio Partners can earn up to $400 a month, including a 10% commission on every order and additional commissions based on the monthly performance of other resellers they’ve referred to the program.
“There is a strong possibility” that Mio will expand beyond Vietnam, Huynh said, “but it will only be considered at a more appropriate time after we have successfully built our handbook for Vietnam.”